In the News (Tue 20 Nov 18)

The U.S. is considered to have the most powerful military in the world, in part due to the size of its defense budget; the American defense expenditures in 2005 was estimated to be greater than the next 14 largest national military budgets combined.

A satellite composite image of the contiguous U.S. Deciduous vegetation and grasslands prevail in the east, transitioning to prairies, boreal forests, and the Rocky Mountains in the west, and deserts in the southwest.

Altogether, the U.S. government owns 1,020,779 square miles (2,643,807 km²) which is 28.8% of the total land area of the U.S. The bulk of this land is protected park and forestland; but some is leased for oil and gas exploration, mining, and cattle ranching.

The practice of including non-citizens in the official census figures is highly controversial as the census is used for the apportionment between the states of seats in the House of Representatives, and derived from that, of electors to the Electoral College.

The Census also employs the practice of using hot deck imputation to assign data to housing units where occupation status is unknown.

The eighth Census estimated the population of the United States at 31,400,000.

The 1870 census (column 13) and 1880 census (column 7) indicate the month in which the person was born, if born "within the year," that is between June 1, 1869 and May 31, 1870 for the 1870 census, or June 1, 1879 and May 31, 1880, for the 1880 census.

The official census day was June 1 in both 1870 and 1880, although the enumerator may have visited the household at a later date.

The official census day was June 1 in each of these census years, although the enumerator may have visited the household at a later date.

The 1880 census was also the first to identify relationship to the head of household; illness or disability at the time the census was taken; marital status; number of months unemployed during the year; and the state or country of birth of every individual’s father and mother.

The census may be used to supplement birth or marriage records for the census year or even to partially replace them where vital records are not recorded elsewhere.

This is the first census to state relationship to the head of household, but the wife may not be the mother of the children.

The Sixth Census of the United States, undertaken in 1840, was a head of household census; that is, it recorded the name only of the heads of families; the rest of the information was recorded in terms of numbers of people within households, without names.

The census data is supposed to be as of June 1, 1840, the date on which census enumeration began; the census in Aroostook County seems to have been completed by the end of September 1840.

Once the enumeration was finished, "correct" copies of the completed census forms were "set up at two of the most public places within the Division, open to the inspection of all concerned," according to notes at the end of each division's pages, and one was sent to the US district court in the region.

Based on this data, the USCensus estimates that there are between 411,000 and 750,000 people over the age of 16 who ride bicycles more miles than any other vehicle to get to work during an average week.

To be listed on the census as a bicycle commuter the cyclist has to be over 16, and the cyclist has to be going to work, not to school or on an errand.

In the US, figures based on the number of miles are preferred over those based on the number of trips or the number of days because mile-based figures make motor vehicle travel seem more important.

1990 Census of Population and Housing,Suffolk County, NY Source: Census of Population and Housing, 1990: Summary Tape File 1A on CD-ROM (Middle Atlantic Division, Volume 1) prepared by the Bureau of the Census.

The Census Bureau conducted two assessments of Shelter and Street Night: (1) the quality of the lists of shelters used for the Shelter and Street Night operation; and (2) how well procedures were followed by census takers for the street count in parts of five cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans, and Phoenix).

In 1990 census data products, the phrase "inmates of institutions" was changed to "institutionalized persons." Also, persons living in noninstitutional group quarters were referred to as "other persons in group quarters," and the phrase "staff residents" was used for staff living in institutions.

The United States of America census 2000 project tells Americans that the census is required by the US Constitution and that the personal questions they ask are needed to implement US law and to provide statistics for government spending programs.

Census officials have waged a campaign during the past year to convince Americans to cooperate with the census and answer all the questions, even the personal ones.

And it is possible that this census worker is doubling as a police officer and checking for illegal residents or perhaps peeking for clues about illegal drugs.

The 1890 census was destroyed or badly damaged in a fire in Washington in 1921.

Microfilm rolls for USCensus records (and the available indexes 1880-1930) are available at the National Archives (NARA), the NARA branches, some libraries, and the LDS Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, which means you can order them from local Family History Centers for viewing and photocopying for a small fee.

home.att.net /~wee-monster/census.html (2035 words)

DontSpyOnUs :: SCANDAL: US Census Data Used in Government Passenger Profiling Test(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)

The US government used data from the 1990 census and the records of close to a half million Northwest Airlines passengers in a test of a CAPPS II-like program.

The author remarked that "as many as 70% of the persons {in the 1990 UScensus} were unique in terms of a combination of 42 simple personal and household characteristics.

The UScensus would become about as useful as the information given when one registers with a website: we would become a nation that – at least on paper – was populated by 99 year-old millionaire grandmothers from Albania.

WASHINGTON -- A Republican lawmaker yesterday proposed changing the US Constitution to exclude non-citizens from the census for the purpose of drawing congressional districts, a move that effectively would deny them a voice in US politics.

Under the present system, as determined by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, the Census Bureau counts all individuals living in the country, once every 10 years.

These data are used when drawing up the 435 congressional districts and when determining each state's vote in the Electoral College that decides presidential elections.

The State Data Center Program is a cooperative effort of the USCensus Bureau and the states to improve public access to census statistics and information.

The objectives of the program are twofold: to provide access to and extend the use of Census Bureau statistical resources, and to provide training and technical assistance in accessing and using the data.

Whether you are needing to know the number of rental units in Winnemucca, the amount of exports from Nevada, or the school age population of one census tract in Reno, your State Data Center has the answers.

The nationwide population census is authorized under Article I, Section 2, of the United States Constitution.

The decennial census first changed in 1820 to include occupational information in addition to the first six questions.

Since it's beginning the USCensus has been a cause of concern for many Americans, initially because the census information was public, but now because of the increased number of invasive questions.

www.hslda.org /docs/nche/Issues/U/USCensus.asp (298 words)

Political Affairs Magazine - US Census Bureau to Hide Poverty(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)

The Census Bureau is playing with numbers to hide growing poverty rates, suggests a new report published jointly by the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

In the past, the Census Bureau has used some of these more exacting NAS standards to create an unofficial poverty rate that it didn’t publicize, but it now has announced plans to drop this method of accounting altogether.

The Census Bureau Public Information Office refused to respond to an e-mail inquiry asking for an explanation for why it has chosen to use less accurate methods and inflated estimates to artificially reduce poverty rate.

The 2000 U.S. Census shows us that 49.7 million people in the U. age 5 and over have a disability -- nearly 1 in 5 U.S. residents, or 19 percent.

"If the Census were really exhaustive about measuring people who have difficulty with functions, the number of people with disabilities would, in fact, be much higher than it is," he continues.

The 2000 Census questions "are not ideal," says the Disability Statistics Center's Steven Kaye, "but they are better than those from the 1990 Census, and the Census is a better vehicle than the Survey of Income and Program Participation for getting accurate numbers.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts a census of population every 10 years, as mandated by the United States Constitution.

This map layer was compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The information is presented by county and includes statistics on total population; population under age 18; population by age, gender, race, and ethnic group; and change in population between 1990 and 2000.

Started in February, 1997, The USGenWeb Census Project is an all-volunteer project to transcribe census records in a standard format in order to make them available to genealogical researchers on the Internet.

This is your chance to help others by sharing your resources and time to assure that all future researchers will have the benefit of all of the census enumerations at the click of the mouse.

Census Kidz (This project is setup to help kids and teenagers wanting to transcribe a census for a project-or just for fun.)